The Longest Ride by Nicholas Sparks

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Let me start by saying that I love the film version of The Notebook, so when I was looking for a new read and a friend recommended Nicholas Sparks, I was pretty excited. However, if I’m honest, I found The Longest Ride disappointing.

I was expecting sweeping romance, brilliant character development and intriguing plot. Instead, what I got was pedestrian, obvious romance, static characters, and next to no plot. The same issues were regurgitated again and again, and the couple of times when I thought we were going to get some action or intrigue, it was over before it started.

I was waiting for the two story lines to overlap in a clever twist, but didn’t even get this. And the ending, which I won’t spoil, was blatant, fast and convenient. The pay off wasn’t deserved, it was just a nice way to wrap up the little story there was.

I wanted insight into the characters. I wanted more interesting interactions between them. I wanted something that would make me care about them. I didn’t get any of this. The interactions were brief, the conversation was limited, and the ending evoked no emotional response at all. I gave it three stars because two stars seemed overly harsh – I mean it was easy to read and nothing in it made me angry…!

All in all, I wouldn’t particularly recommend and don’t think Nicholas Sparks is for me – I need a bit more action, rather than just sweet romance. What did everyone else think?



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The Longest Ride